i would've put this in tech support but i know i'll get more views here. if mods want to move it then please do so

dads computer was having problems with spyware and i downloaded spybot s&d and spywareblaster but couldnt fix it
a guy my dad goes to church with is "good" and doesnt believe in filesharing of any kind and what have you but apparently he knows his way around a computer very well. my dad gave him his computer to look at and he seemingly fixed it although he uninstalled spybot s&d...plus utorrent and deleted some shows i downloaded. in the past my dad found porn i had downloaded and told me not do so since he didnt want my stepmom or stepsister finding it and he'd delete it along with limewire. as far as i know my dad has no clue what utorrent is.
a month later utorrent, limewire, illegal copy of photoshop and my porn is deleted. if my dad did it he'd have mentioned it as he has before and its been two days. if it was stepmom i DEFINATELY wouldve heard about it
i think im being watched

i'm replying to this because i'm on my PS3 right now (since it's "safe") and it only allows you type a limited amount into a textbox

i know there are programs out there that allow you to remotely control a computer(although i dont know them by name). it's curious that he deleted the anti spyware programs from dads computer. i ran spybot once after we had gotten the comp back and smitfraud (one of the spyware/adware) was still listed, although the effects were not present (random ads popping up, computer running slow).

maybe i'm just being paranoid but i havent asked my dad about it yet and he's given no indication that he deleted it. i shoudl note that i downloaded photoshop via a torrent after we got the comp back.

maybe it's nothing, i dunno

I can "VPN" into my work computer from home. I just needed to install a program on my home computer, know my IP address at work, as well as my login and password. I don't know what had to be installed on teh network at work to allow this though.

i'm going to run spybot on his computer here in a little bit, if i find any suspicious names (i'm sure spybot will pick up a program if it has been installed) i'll post them.

it doesnt matter that we dont use logins to sign into our network, right? our wifi is unencrypted as well (although he is well out of range to log into our network wirelessly)
i know we have a firewall up and running, but it's just the generic firewire that came with SP2. i'm sure someone who knows their way around windows could easily get onto the computer...
damn.

First of all, go to Start -> Control Panel -> Administration -> Services. Make sure Telnet and Terminal Services are disabled.

Then, make sure nothing like an SSH server is installed (do they have SSH for Windows? I don't know). Also make sure no FTP servers are installed/running.

Finally, change the passwords on all the user accounts. If you want, you can also change your firewall settings to be more pessimistic with port blocking.

I think the technical term is "Hacking in the name of God"

alright, i disabled terminal services but i dont see telnet listed as an option. however i've looked through the list and "remote access connection manager" is enabled. is this something i should disable?
are the SSH and FTP servers listed in the same place as well? also, i can't do anything as far as ports go with my firewall (it comes pre installed with windows) all i can do is allow exceptions for programs to use the ports.
thanks for your help



yet god is nowhere to be found, conveniently

I don't think you need to worry about remote access connection manager. Telnet might not be installed, and Terminal Services basically allows people to remote desktop in.

SSH and FTP would be separate software which may or may not be installed as a service. There are probably various implementations available, but you could I guess just go through the currently running processes and find out if any of them would allow remote access. Basically just google the name of each process and you should be able to find something on what it does.

Might wanna throw a keylogger in there. You can see what everyone's doing on your computer. And you might find out some things you don't want to know

i actually had a keylogger installed on my dad's computer awhile back, but norton automatically detects it and deletes it. it wasn't nothing high tech by any means though, it was just some freeware off of download.com

thank you, you've been most helpful

What's probably of most interest to is having HIPS-enabled software (Google it). This will allow you to see if there any remote connection attempts.

And don't use Spybot. Use SUPERAntiSpyware and a-squared. Do a scan with each, just to be sure as some programs don't detect what others do.

If you're looking for a trojan, Avira Anti-Vir is a fantastic anti-virus.

As for firewall apps, I recommend Comodo. You could also go and get a router if you're really paranoid.

http://www.free-av.de/en/index.html (Avira Anti-vir)

http://www.av-comparatives.org (comparison of AV progs)

http://www.superantispyware.com/

http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free (a-squared)

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

Just curious about your opinion on why not to use Spybot? I use it, so I was just wondering if I'm not hip on the latest pros & cons.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecPeSmF_ ... re=related

I think there's a valid reason why you're paranoid. Software doesn't just *poOf!* disappear after you install it.

If you aren't even sure that your dad's computer has been hijacked or not, how can you be sure that you haven't downloaded illegal photoshop software with malicious code pre-packaged? Srsly. Ask your Dad to buy you the software so you don't have to keep stealing it. If you can't afford it, download GIMP or something.

The reason why your Dad's computer needed to be fixed could be because you're filling it with junk to begin with.

Not all hackers are bad either. So don't go bad mouthing your Dad's friend the computer guru. Don't hate. Appreciate!

This is approximately a 60 minute long video from a convention presentation, but I thought his intro was funny. Enjoy!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 5&q=&hl=en

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/a ... warns.html

^ makes me wonder if this safari (for Windows) vulnerability was intentional.......or not.


Star Wars is real, man. Better get used to it.



(read the chat log in the video)

In college, my friend across the hall was dating a 16 year old- he was 18. Not too scandalous, but enough to make fun of.

So one day he left his dorm room unlocked, so my roommate installed a virus that allowed him to run the computer. Usually it was little stuff- making the CD tray open, randomly shutting down a program in use, changing his wallpaper, etc...

although this program allowed you to create system error messages. After one particularly rough afternoon of making fun of him for being a pedo, we created a system message that said "Brad likes to fuck little girls"

He immediately stood up, yelled "you mother fuckers" and unplugged his computer.

and demanded we fuck with his roommate the same way.

classic...

You're telling me...